July 16, 2009

(The photo shows a small cross and a penny at the base of a totem-pole like sculpture erected atop an Indian mound on the East Side of Madison. Photographed on July 12th, when I was in Madison. Right now, I'm in Kentucky, about to hit the road heading toward Tennessee and then North Carolina. So please use this post to keep things hot or at least warm around here. I'll be back in due time.)

80 comments:

This sentence from the NYT article on Hillary was too funny not to comment on:

Though she departs Thursday for India and Thailand, she is in constant pain and faces grueling physical therapy five times a day, according to people close to her. Among the exercises: repetitively squeezing a gelatinous ball.

From what I can see of them, they're real squares, man.Hey Althouse, if you pass through Knoxville (as I suspect you will), it would be damned funny if you TPed Reynolds' house. A good caper now and then (perpetrated on a good sport) can really lift the soul.

I thought the picture represented a flow of chocolate lava, perhaps spewing forth from some liberal's irradiated mocha like a Blob spreading across the tacky granite table top in an elitist coffeeshop, about to overrun meaningful symbols of American providence. Boo!

Drill Sgt, that is the God's Honest Truth. For Christmas I got the wife some fancy schmancy chocolate made in Madison. They looked beautiful, and the ingredients were intriguing, but let's just say that the Bacon and Blue Cheese Chocolate Truffle was not a hit. And we LOOOOOVE bacon!

Are the Smokies a destination or is this a trip all the way to the Coast?Lord knows there's no reason to visit the Piedmont, where most of the people live. Unless she's looking for a new job. We have all the law schools worth snearing at.

If you're heading through North Carolina don't forget to hit a few barbeque joints. Stay away from Lexington-style 'que though--those people are heretics. When the revolution comes they'll all be going up against the wall, if you get my meaning.

I love symbols. I just love 'em all. When considering Egyptian hieroglyphics it serves to remain flexible precisely because they preferred the words to end up in blocks rather than stretched out linearly which would be a lot more, um, straightforward but less attractive graphically. They added elements that are redundant or flat do not belong, and they left out elements you would think necessary leaving it to the reader to reassemble sensibly, apparently to achieve a more attractive block form. Much of it is conventional and engrained over centuries anyway. Consider the graphic elements that could connote the word "Christmas" that range from any combination of elements of the nativity through any element of modern Christmas including a pine tree, an ornament, a toy train, Santa Clause, reindeer, etc, any combination of those elements, or any single element by itself would work. Now that's flexibility!

But it's a little bit hazardous accepting symbols from other cultures and other centuries. I hear things that are not said and see things that are not intended. I was sitting in the cafeteria at the FRB behind bullet-proof glass observing mall traffic three floors down and on the other side of the mall. A mother holding her infant in her arms apparently told her child to wave bye-bye because in that moment I clearly heard a child's voice in my head say "Bob," the opening and closing and opening again of its tiny hand closely resembled the ASL signs for those letters. Then I realized, no, she's just waving, but that was after I heard the name. This morning the pitchman on TV, on mute, held up a portable floor steamer, shaped as a long stem with a bulb at the bottom. My brain instantly said "nefer" the glyphic representation of the heart and trachea which for some reason strange and unknown to me represent the concepts of beauty and goodness. They guy holds up a steamer, and I think "beauty." That's just wrong! You can see the fog and clutter other peoples' symbols create.

But in this thread: It is the custom to give a small sum of money to a relative, a friend, or a colleague when she gives birth. When the baby turns one month old it is also customary to acknowledge the earlier kindness with a celebratory "彌月蛋糕 full month cake." (and probably to celebrate the child's survival, but that's just me.)[ 彌 more,月 month, 蛋 egg, 糕 cake ]

Mmmmm, 乳酪蛋糕 cheese cake [ 乳 breast, 酪 cream, 蛋 egg, 糕 cake ] You can probably see why Chinese are not particularly known for their cheese. Heh heh heh, I said 乳.

fls, they don't make much furniture around here anymore. There are a few showrooms for the huge twice-yearly Market for buyers which also sell to the public, but it ain't like it used to be (proving that I am a true Southerner).

The Chinese symbol for chocolate is the one that appears on the line just above the English word chocolate in our overlord's entry. How do I know this, you ask? There is an eHow video on just this subject!

Lem...Columbus Day is the Latina's day memorialising the beginning of Spanish control that drove out the Caribs who were the evil locals always feasting on all the other "Indians" until The Admiral set them free in exchange for the local gold.

"Warhol said art should be meaningful in the most shallow way.".. "He was able to make commercial art that was taken seriously as fine art... that's what I'm doing too... I make soulless electronic pop... Says Lady Gaga

Sotomayor says she’s going to make soulless interpretations of the constitution. That is just very hard to believe.

Titus...Sorry, our secret codes are closely guarded from Yankees. But for you, if you promise to keep them secret, then they are basically the State of North Carolina going from Western NC over to Eastern NC. Do you ever watch College Basketball, ACC style?

Thanks Traditional. Of course I watch ACC Basketball. I heard Duke has a bunch of fags on their team.

Christian Laettner started the fag program at Duke and since them it seems to be a target rich environment for mo recruiting.

I have been to Tennessee. When I was young my parents would take us there on vacation.

I have been to Gatlinberg, Cumberland Falls, Dollywood, Grand Old Opry, Tour of country western stars houses, my dad and I pet Johnny Cash's not rare cocker spaniel-black natch, Lookout Mountain where you can see 7 states, Ruby Falls and some other shit. I actually thought it was very pretty. The Great Smokies are beautiful.

Seriously, I would love to do a road trip through the south. Seriously, I would be a little afraid in my black bmw 328xi, with Mass plates and rare clumbers but hopefully I could stay at fabulous little antebellum inns. I would also like to go to gay bars in the south to see what is like, scary I am sure. I do also enjoy not fabulous things like Waffle House, Bob Evans, everything deep fried.

If I did a trip like that I would want to go to NC, SC, Kentucky and Tennessee. I wouldn't have as much interest in seeing Georgia, Alabama or Mississippi. When I was young we went to Mississippi with my parents and the only thing I remember if going to old plantations with women dressed in big dresses and I wanted one of those dresses. My mom bought me a doll in Mississippi of a women in a big dress.

Actually I would have interest in seeing where Capote and his fag hag lived in Mississippi and Alabama. Can't remember her name. I even read a book about her. How sad.

"Though she departs Thursday for India and Thailand, she is in constant pain and faces grueling physical therapy five times a day, according to people close to her. Among the exercises: repetitively squeezing a gelatinous ball."

Heck, I do that everything day and I didn't even hurt my shoulder. Wooooo, stop me I am on fire. OKKKKKKKK.

My neighbor was in Asheville last week and told me there were lots of "weirdos." He saw a man in a nun's blouse and headgear. I told him, be glad he was wearing pants. That area is hurting because of the dropoff in tourism.Beach real estate is crashing down almost to sane price levels.

Henry Buck said... This sentence from the NYT article on Hillary was too funny not to comment on:

Though she departs Thursday for India and Thailand, she is in constant pain and faces grueling physical therapy five times a day, according to people close to her. Among the exercises: repetitively squeezing a gelatinous ball.

I wonder what she wishfully imagines the gelatinous ball to be?

Physical therapy can be very painful and rough. A pal in the 90s, that I am still in occasional contact with though he is now a professor in a distant state (PhD in Physical Therapy, Biomechanics) - explained it helps that therapists have a bit of a sadistic streak because with all the pain some recovery therapy involves, it is better than empathy with pain.

I imagine each time Hillary squeezes the gel exercise grip, it hurts...especially at the beginning and at the end limit of the reps.

I imagine she might be thinking with each squeeze she should have been wearing sensible lesbian shoes made for walking and slip-avoidance.

Ralph L... another interesting place in down-eastern NC is Fayeteville NC. It is a suburb of Ft Bragg/Pope AFB. When the 82nd leaves town in a big hurry and lands behind enemy lines somewhere else, the locals are very lonely for customers.The sandy pine barrens do make good landing zones and manoever areas for the best trained unit in the Airborne.

Ralph L mentioned the lack of American made furniture in NC and I found that is sadly true when I was shopping for a new coffee table and end table after 25 years here on the west coast. The Thomasville shop in our area was selling poorly made, cheap stuff. The knobs on a set of doors weren't even aligned! Went to a local interior design store and the owner said Thomasville and other makers import lots of their furniture from China. I'm not trying to plug a particular brand, but ended up buying some solid American-made tables from Harden, which says on its website that they're made the the US from the company's forests. They're beautiful. And I didn't have to send my money to the overlords.

Forget all the suggestions about Waffle House and Bob Evans. If you get as far as the Piedmont, then you must have BBQ. In the Piedmont, you get Lexington-style which is hickory smoked pork shoulder which is then chopped - not pulled. The slaw will be like nothing you've ever had - it is tangy with both vinegar and pepper in it. Anyplace in Lexington is good and Stameys in Greensboro is my favorite.

Eastern style is also good but different. It is whole hog BBQ and the sauce and sides will be different.

And as a resident of WNC for almost 30 years, if you are only going to the Smokies then forget about BBQ. We just don't any good stuff up here.

One thing you have to have is biscuits, preferably out in the country where one of the options is fatback, and there are old guys in there whose grandkids call them "Papaw." Going in there was on the way to the zoo was like being Margaret Mead in Samoa.